Cheesy Pasta Stuffed Marconi Peppers with Tomato Basil Sauce

If you're a follower of my Facebook page, you will be familiar with my "pepper crop" that has been coming along nicely in containers on my deck.  I've grown a variety of peppers this summer and the Giant Marconi peppers are ready to enjoy!

Here's when they were only tiny blooms and peppers.

With only a few skirmishes with squirrels, the little peppers came along nicely.

After I harvested them, I washed and dried the peppers and placed them in a Ziploc bag until I was ready to prep them for cooking.

Yesterday, I planned my dish!  To prep the peppers, I sliced them lengthwise and removed the seeds and membranes.

Then it was time to prepare the filling!  I wanted to have a creamy cheesy filling for sure.  Maybe some pasta?  I found this variety in the pantry and it worked wonderfully!

For this recipe, I brought 3 cups of water to a boil and added 1 t. salt and 1/2 cup of the pastina pasta.  Stir well and lower heat to medium.  Let pasta cook for 4 minutes.

While the pasta cooks, heat 1 T. olive oil and 1 T. butter in a medium skillet over medium heat.  Add in 1 small chopped yellow onion, 1 t. chopped garlic, 1/2 t. salt, and 1/4 t. dried red pepper flakes.  Stir occasionally.

I found it easy to use a small strainer to scoop/drain the cooked pasta and add it to the skillet with the onions.

Stir to combine all the cooked pasta with the onions.  Turn off the heat.  Slowly stir in 1 cup coarsely shredded mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese.  Thinly slice 3 - 4 basil leaves and stir that into the mixture.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray a 8 x 8 baking dish with non-stick spray.  I use the olive oil variety.  

I had 4 large marconi peppers.  The filling I prepared was more than enough for these pepper halves.  I carefully spooned the filling into the pepper halves and placed them into the baking dish.

I baked the peppers for 30 minutes and then placed them under the broiler for a minute or so to brown up a little.

While the peppers were baking, I heated a jar of Rao's Tomato Basil Sauce.  A few spoonfuls on the plate, a serving of peppers, and some more sauce drizzled over the top was almost perfection.  After adding some more fresh basil and red pepper flakes, we reached perfection level!

Here's a little info on the Marconi Peppers!

Marconi peppers are a type of Italian heirloom pepper that can be sweet and smoky, and are known for being large and productive. They can be eaten raw or cooked, and are great for frying, drying, or adding to salads. The ones I grew were this variety:

Giant Marconi

This tapered green pepper can grow to be 6–8 inches long and mature into red on a 30-inch plant. It's considered to be best when grilled, but some say it tastes great raw too. In 2001, it was recognized by All-America Selections for its flavor, yield, adaptability, and earliness.